30 Bird Productions

Nezami’s Leili O Majnoun is a seminal text known throughout the Middle East and inspired Eric Clapton to write the song Layla. The story is a tragic one, telling the tale of Gheiss whose love for Leili drives him insane. He becomes known as Majnoun, or ‘mad from love’, wandering the desert and writing indiscernible love poetry to Leili. He refuses to possess Leili in life and only visits her after her death, protecting her grave from wild animals.

In Majnoun the nature of Leili and Majnoun’s love is applied to the imposition of modernism on Iran in the 20th century. Inspired by the West, modernism was imposed in Iran during the 1920s as a quick path to progress. Men were forced to abandon their native clothes and wear Western suits and hats. Women were unveiled overnight and ordered to wear European fashions. In Tehran, historical architecture was cleared and replaced with buildings aspiring to modernity. Language centres were established to banish impurities (Arabic, Turkish) and mould Farsi into a language suitable to ‘modern’ requirements.

The co-existence of modernism and tradition in Iran has been at best an uncomfortable one and at worst similar to a kind of madness. This resulted in a direct competition, love of a distorted modernity versus the love of God and Islam. Mehrdad Seyf’s Majnoun is an examination of this tension and its various characteristics.

1925 – Modernisation of architecture begins.
1928/29 – Decree announced ordering change in dress for men. Pahlavi hat introduced.
1931/32 – Modernisation of Persian language begins.
1935 – Decree announced ordering change from Pahlavi Hat to Bowler/Trilby hat. Massacre in Mashad.
1936 - Kashfe Hajab or the Removal of the veil.
1941 - The Allies invade Iran. Fall of Reza Shah. The Shah put in power.
1951 - Dr. Mossadegh elected as Prime Minister.
1953 - Coup d’etat against Dr. Mossadegh.
1963 - The White Revolution: period of enforced social reform. June Riots against the Shah. Women granted the right to vote.
1977 - Movement towards the Revolution begins.
1979 - Revolution

National Tour April/May 2006

Cast
Daniel Alexander
Ali Amadi
Betsabeh Emran

Director Mehrdad Seyf
Producer Claire Summerfield
Designer Leslie Travers
Lighting Design Flick Ansell
Music & Sound Behzad Bolour
Music Production on Leili Julian Littman
Dramaturgical Support John Wright
Production Manager Dave Ferrier
Tour Production Manager Shaun Tracey
Company Stage Manager Laura Miles
Costume Assistant Isabel Muñoz
Administration and Marketing Maryam Asghari
Press Representatives Guy Chapman Associates

2006 Tour

Majnoun toured the following venues during April and May 2006:

Traverse Theatre – Edinburgh
Lyric Hammersmith – London
The Junction – Cambridge
The Hawth – Crawley
Exeter Phoenix – Exeter
Phoenix Arts – Leicester
Brewery Arts – Kendal
Birmingham Repertory Theatre – Birmingham

World Premiere, Riverside Studios March 2004

Cast
Kourosh Asad
Jonathan Hansler
Roxana Pope

Director Mehrdad Seyf
Producer Claire Summerfield
Designer Leslie Travers
Lighting Design Flick Ansell
Music & Sound Behzad Bolour
Music Production on Leili Julian Littman
Dramaturgical Support John Wright
Production Manager Matthew Darby
Stage Manager Lizzie Dudley
Costume Assistant Isabel Muñoz
Press Representatives Guy Chapman Associates

“Before the start of Majnoun, I’d have said dramatic odds were heavily in favour of a worthy plod across the quagmires of cultural divide – news that the piece was performed in both Farsi and English didn’t suggest a barrel of laughs. But 30 Bird Productions had several aces up their sleeve that trumped my doubts: a roguishly clever script (by director Mehrdad Seyf), a cast of three gifted, versatile players, a set cunningly rooted in farce (lots of sudden little trapdoors and spy holes) and a tremendously uplifting belief in absurd humour as a valuable conduit for serious themes and provocative questions”.
Mary Brennan, Herald, 2006

“What’s more unexpected is the sheer childlike playfulness of the show: the fragmented comic surrealism of its style; the obsession with food and movies; the sexy banter between an Iranian girl and her English boyfriend. This is a vital show that raises all the key issues about relations between Iran and the West, and has the slightly self-conscious, in-joke charm of a piece that means a great deal to those whose experience it reflects, but which is only now setting out to be tested in front of the wider audience that so desperately needs to see it”.
Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman, 2006

“Playful, absurdist and comic…(Majnoun) is so deftly staged, so appealingly performed and has such high production values it is impossible not to like”
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, 2004

“Told through a blend of cabaret, physical satire and occasional touches of the absurd the result is a highly enjoyable romp through Iranian mores and, indeed costume…Odd characters pop up to sing poignant ditties in Farsi, then cut to scenes recreated from film noirs, as shocking as they are comic, hinting at the imposed struggle between the sexes in Iran. All the while, a couple - he English, she Iranian - debate the cultural differences that threaten to divide them. All promising stuff, particularly when played over Leslie Travers’ inventive and deceptively simple set of flagstones and secret traps”.
Nick Awde, The Stage, 2004

“Majnoun is a deliciously subtle set of scenes exploring the conflict between imposed modernity and the Islamic traditions of Iran in the 1920s… It is sophisticated, confronting the past wrongs through humour and providing context for careful thought…moments of genius are pleasingly frequent”.
Tom Ogg, Culture Wars, The Institute of Ideas, 2004

“Through a series of fragmented episodes, arresting images and various songs, we are given a taste of what modernisation and western influence meant to a nation steeped in tradition…. Leslie Travers’ imaginative set springs surprises, the 3 actors give engaging performances and the music is stirring - most memorably Roxana Pope gives a thrilling rendition of Seyf’s original composition “Leili”. A tantalising evening”.
Theatreworld, 2004